A Bryce Sunrise

I have to thank Grant for motivating me with his recent Bryce images to get out there myself. It was absolutely beautiful. All the snow makes it tough to get around, but it sure makes for purdy images. I haven't had much time to really process much yet, but I did get this sunrise image through the photoshop wringer. I know, most people want to see the hoodoos lit by the sun's first rays, but I liked this pre-sunrise shot and the way the bright red sky actually gave the hoodoos a bit of a glow.

That is a pretty wild looking sky Guy. The clouds seem to be blown in a few spots, namely the upper left bit of magenta. But this is still a very nice capture from Bryce.

Mel-

I like it a lot Guy, I don't mind that the hoodoos aren't lit up by the sun yet. With this kind of pre-sunrise color, who would mind?

I agree with Mel that the sunset color, while spectacular, looks blown to some degree. I find that when shooting my 5D in the landscape picture style, bright oranges and reds in sunsets tend to do this. I don't know what you were shooting, but it's probably something to do with a digital sensor not being able to handle the intensity of the color. It's still an incredible shot, and only us photogs will notice what is mentioned here. Can't wait to see more!

I should say I agree with Todd that it is an issue that only a photog (and a picky one at that) would notice and if you process in aRGB, you very well may be able to preserve the detail for printing. Its a beautiful and intense image Guy.

It seems to me that digital sensors, for whatever reason, seem to be overly sensitive to red and tend to blow that channel very easily.

Mel-

Beautiful!!

I echo what Todd and Mel said about the colors, but this really is a great image. Nice work.

Great shot,,,,Nice to see something non-typical for a change.

I think this is sweet, blown out red clouds or not

Thanks guys. Actually, this scene wasn't blown out in-camera. I kinda rushed the image through post and pushed the reds a little too much. That's what I get for not taking a second look at it before posting. Thanks for pointing it out. I do agree with you Todd. I own a 5D as well and it doesn't handle vivid reds real well (even shooting raw). This image also brings out an aspect of ACR and Lightroom that I don't like. They render vivid reds closer to orange and it takes some hue adjustments to restore the red as I remembered it. It was probably during this stage that things got a little out of hand!

Wow!

This happens to be one of the nicest images I have seen of that area. The red rocks covered in deep, fresh snow along with a beautiful sunset look superb to me. And on my monitor the reds don't look too blown.

Did you reprocess it or something? The sky looks 'a little' hot as I would expect for a vibrant sunset. But I don't see the blown parts the others do. Hmm... Well I am sure it is something you can remedy in PP if you do notice it upon closer examination/larger scale.

Thanks for sharing this nice image!

Guy – fantastic image of Bryce! I have only been to the park once, but never during the winter. What dates did you visit? Is the place usually covered in snow during the winter, or do you have to wait for a snow-storm to pass through?

Great work!

Derek...haven't reprocessed yet. The reds are just slightly blown and you may not notice it depending on the brightness of your monitor.

Rene...I was just there last Wed-Fri (Feb 6-8). I don't believe you can always count on much snow there in normal winters (except after storms), but with this cold and snowy winter the snow should remain for some time yet. It was pretty deep (I often sunk to my knees or deeper when going off trail).

Guy, Very intense!! What a great shot!!! It's nice to see something a little different from Bryce. Did you end up taking the D&S winter photographer's train on sunday?

Thanks Laurie. Yes I did take the photographer's train yesterday. I plan to post something from that outing sometime in the next couple of days. To cut to the chase, the conditions were a bit challenging with the bright sunny sky we had. It was still fun though!

Beautiful image! I really like the clouds.